Higher-speed Ethernet typically has to use existing copper (electrical) and fiber (optical) cables, e.g., in a data center and over the Internet. At this point in time, no technology exists to transport 40 or 100 GbE as a single stream over both copper and fiber media between endpoints, but such transport becomes possible when the traffic is subdivided and transmitted via a plurality of lower data rate channels or virtual lanes. To assist the conversion between optical and electrical transmission, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has established the 802.3ba standard for 40 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and 100 GbE for transmission over networks, e.g., the Internet. The 802.3ba standard implements the use of “virtual lanes” that subdivide the higher data rate optical signals for processing by lower data rate electronics at the physical coding sublayer (PCS). For example, a 40 GbE optical data rate may be subdivided into 5 GbE PCS units or lanes for electrical processing. In essence the 40 GbE data are distributed across 5 GbE lanes, e.g., eight lanes (40 GbE divided by 5 GbE). However, due to the long optical transmission distances, e.g., measuring in the hundreds of miles or kilometers, optical networks often traverse geographic regions that may present security problems such as data interception.